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China has started work on Sky City, which will become the world's new tallest building once it's completed. The 208-story tower will be approximately 2,750 feet tall, about 33 feet higher than the world's current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The project is expected to be completed by April 2014.

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The race to build the world's tallest tower has become a tortoise race, with some 234 skyscraper projects scrapped or stalled, in part because of the global financial crisis, according to the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Dubai's Burj Khalifa is currently the world's tallest building, but China's Sky City could top the Burj's height and is set to be completed next year. But then, Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower, scheduled to be completed in 2019 could beat Sky City, reaching nearly 3,281 feet into the sky.

Emporis, a building data firm, has listed 10 super-tall towers that are currently being built. Dubai's Burj Khalifa, at 2,717 feet tall, will remain the world's tallest. Six of the 10 future towers are being constructed in China, while others are in South Korea and in Saudi Arabia. The list also includes New York City's One World Trade Center.

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has signed a deal with Bin Laden Group to construct a tower that will top the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world's tallest building. Plans for the $1.23 billion tower indicate that it will be 3,281 feet tall, will take more than five years to build and will feature a hotel, luxury condominiums and offices.

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has signed a deal with Bin Laden Group to construct a tower that will top the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world's tallest building. Plans for the $1.23 billion tower indicate that it will be 3,281 feet tall, will take more than five years to build and will feature a hotel, luxury condominiums and offices.

Reinforced concrete -- the compressive strength of which has tripled in the past 40 years, "allowing concrete structures to be thinner, lighter and far, far taller" -- provides the skeleton for the world's tallest building. Dubai's Burj Khalifa beats the steel-frame Taipei 101 by 1,050 feet, representing a true technological feat, writes Blaine Brownell an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture.